Insane

I'm sitting on top of the world tonight. I had an incredible week of training and I almost don't want it to end.

This was my final big training week before the taper. This was my peak week. And it was EASY. I ended up with over 18 hours of training time and all but one hour of it took place over the last 5 days. This means I just had 5 insane training days in a row. And it was a piece of cake. I am so into it. Wednesday I was out the door at 8:00 and didn't finish my workouts until after 3:00 pm. And then I went to the gym with Zach in the evening! I literally worked out ALL DAY. Thursday and Friday, yada yada yada. Then Yesterday I ran 20 miles and it didn't even feel like a tough workout. Today's 80 mile ride was similarly breezy and fun. Ain't no thing! I'm loving it. It's weird.

I wish I could keep going like this. I think this is going to be the kind of taper where I need to hold back and make myself rest. I am kind of pissed that I was so burnt out a few weeks ago and was struggling to get my workouts in, and then now I can't get enough but I have to lay off. Oh well, I guess it's the right time to be at this peak! I hope I can maintain my strength and positivity through the taper and then knock it out of the park in Tempe. I wish the race was tomorrow. GAH!

Okie dokie. Here's the proof: I'm crazy! And I love it!

Monday: rest

Tuesday: Run
7.0 miles/1:04:32/9:13 average pace
Waterfront solo

Wednesday: Swim
4200 yards/1:45
Solo swim at Aquatic Center

Wednesday: Bike
30.0 miles/2:01:36/14.6 MPH
River Road/Oatfield loop solo

Wednesday: Run
5.0 miles/44:27/8:53 average pace
Brick run after the ride, also solo (Deana's work schedule changed, so we ran together Friday instead)

Wednesday: Strength Training
light lift with Zach at the gym in the evening

Thursday: Bike
2:00/trainer
Watched recorded Ironman Lake Placid coverage

Thursday: Swim
2150 yards/1:00
Masters

Friday: Run
10.0 miles/1:33:29/9:21 average pace
5 miles with Deana at 10:10 average pace, then one mile in 8:08 (downhill from Deana's to my house to meet Zach) then 4 miles with Zach at about 8:30 pace. Whew! It was nice to have company for the long run though.

Saturday: Run
20.0 miles/2:58:04/8:54 average pace
Wonderful fantastic long run. It felt easy and like I could have kept running forever. I never felt tired. Got rained on a little but had a bit of sun too. The course was neat - I had Zach drop me off far out in eastern Gresham and I ran home on the Springwater Corridor Trail. The only time I've ever done such a long point-to-point run was in races (boston x2 and CIM x3). It's kind of cool to cover such a huge distance on foot.

Saturday: Swim
1000 yards/25:00
Why not.

Sunday: Bike
80.0 miles/4:58:48/16.0 MPH
Wonderful fantastic long ride. It felt easy and like I could have kept riding forever. :P It was freezing cold- 40 degrees at the start and only warmed up to 48 by the end of the day. Zach rode the whole way with me! That's a cycling distance record for him. Our friend Anne came out and met us after we did one loop (44 miles) and rode 30 miles with us. It was awesome having some extra company. Zach and I did a fast bit at the end to round off the distance and we were pushing really hard at the end. It was great. I never felt tired and I definitely didn't have the mental block that I've dealt with the last couple long rides.


totals for the week:

Swim: 3:10 (7350 yards)
Bike: 9:00 (110 miles + 2 hours trainer)
Run: 6:25 (42 miles)

total training volume for my peak week: 18:35

Wow.

3 weeks to IMAZ

Pictures!

Just one from Saturday's Halloween 20 mile run:


Sunday's Sauvie Island ride:

The fog finally burned off about 25 miles into the ride:


Zach trying to absorb as much warmth as possible (still only like 45 degrees):

Picked up Anne about 45 miles into our ride:

Me and Anne:

All done. Bikes loaded up on the car. The sun was on it's way down and it was only about 3:00 when I took this photo!

Thanks for reading! Have a great week.

Final push

Penultimate peak week done. Next week looks a lot like this one and then I taper. It's getting so close!

I am feeling really good and I'm motivated to make the most of these peak weeks. Knowing that I'm almost at the end makes all the difference. In a lot of ways, I'm completely burnt out, but I know I can focus and work hard for a little bit longer. Suck it up, cupcake.

I'm getting a lot of the final preparations ready. The logistics for an event like this are insane, but I kind of love it. I've pretty much finalized my gear lists, nutrition strategy, and race week schedule. I'll probably post that kind of stuff on here before the race although it's probably pretty boring. There were a lot of decisions to make, big and small, and lots of things to coordinate. Bike transport, gear bags, special needs bags, pre-race food, bike nutrition, run nutrition, transition plans, clothing changes, travel schedule, dining options, race registration, practice swim, bike and gear bag check in, athlete meeting, race day parking, etc etc etc etc.

I took my bike in for a full overhaul and it's riding like it is brand new. They took it apart and cleaned and lubed everything, replaced my brakes and tires and checked all the cables and components. It rides so smooth and is shines like when it was new. Zach picked his bike up on Friday and it's also good as new. We've been really impressed with the people at Trek and our local guys at the Bike Gallery.

I'm also doing everything I can to keep my body healthy by eating good and taking precautions against cold and flu which seems to be everywhere. I bought Clorox wipes to disinfect my desk and work area daily, I wash my hands a zillion times a day and avoid touching my face, and I even sometimes use that hand sanitizer which I hate. I've been eating a really healthy diet with almost no "treats" and I haven't had any alcohol in almost 2 weeks. I've also been pretty anti-social by staying home and resting instead of going out. The extra sleep and time off my feet helps I think. I'm planning on sticking with all this until after the race. It's so close, why not.

One other thing I want to mention because it affects my training and you might notice the difference is that I now have Wednesdays off work. It's really slow and so we're doing this "work share" thing which is a nice way of saying cutting hours. I thing the "share" part refers to the fact that instead of laying someone off, we're all taking a hit. Of course this is great for my training but it kind of sucks because I only got this job 6 months ago and just finally started to feel like I was earning my keep, and now I'm practically part time. Whatever! What can you do. So I chose to have Wednesdays off for now (until my race) and I'm making the most of it. I decided I'd specifically spend some extra time in the pool. Since I've made a habit of skipping Masters and haven't done many long swims, I am going to start cranking out super long swims out at the aquatic center in the mornings. I kind of like swimming on my own rather than with the class, and the pool is practically empty that time of day. Then I will do my bike workout and my run with Deana (she has Wednesdays off already). It's nice to get those things done during the day so I can do some stuff around the house and then relax in the evening. This first week it worked out great.

Allright, I think I hit all the topics I wanted to talk about! Sorry it's so long. I am so consumed with this Ironman training and planning it's annoying even to me. I can't wait for this to all be over! But what's funny is that even though I'm getting completely tired of thinking about it, I'm actually getting REALLY excited to race. For the first time I have reached a point where I actually believe I can do this. I can do it! I know I can! It's going to be awesome. I'm so excited. I wish it was tomorrow.

Well I should really wrap this up. Here are the stats from the week's workouts. It went great. I recruited all my training buddies to join me and keep me motivated and it really helped. I feel amazing and honestly feel like this week was a breeze. Well, there was one ugly bit which you'll see toward the end, but otherwise it was great. Here we go:


Monday: rest

Tuesday: Run
7.2 miles/1:03:44/8:51 average pace
Waterfront/Springwater with Emily. Her first run since the Portland Marathon! Great to chat and the run flew by.

Tuesday: Swim
2500 yards/1:00
Masters with Zach

Wednesday: Swim
4000 yards/1:35
Solo morning swim at the aquatic center. I made up a long workout for myself which I won't post but maybe I'll include it next week. Basically it was 1000 warm up swim, 1000 drills and kicking, 1000 freestyle pyramid, 1000 pull and cool down swim.

Wednesday: Bike
1:30 on trainer
Caught up on Mad Men.

Wednesday: Run
5.0 miles/47:59/9:36 average pace
Forest Park with Deana. She is doing so great, it seemed like this run was not hard at all for her. She ran the Run Like Hell 5k today (Sunday) and did great. She's really on a roll!

Thursday: Bike
17.8 miles/1:04:37/16.5 MPH
Springwater trail solo ride. I did the double out and back and kept a good speed. Fun!

Thursday: Swim
2300 yards/1:00
Masters with Zach

Friday: Run
10.0 miles/1:32:51/9:17 average pace
Waterfront/Springwater solo. Started getting dark toward the end. The sunset is so early these days, and Daylight Savings Time is soon! Thankfully my training is almost over and I don't really care.

Saturday: Bike
60.3 miles/5:03:51/11.8 MPH
Hilly grind of a ride all around Sandy in the foothills near Mt. Hood. My legs felt good, the scenery was amazing, and the hills were actually kind of fun. But I hit a wall almost immediately and the entire ride was torture. It was all in my head- I just did not want to do it. I have no good reasons, I just am getting sick of these long rides and am not enjoying them any more at all. I had to stop a bunch of times with complex complaints ranging from "I don't wanna!" to "I just can't." I was even crying at one point. I felt bad for Zach, who was excited to have his road bike back and spent a lot of time planning the route. We cut out a bit of the ride when we realized our speed was so slow and the planned 75 mile ride was going to take more like 6.5 hours. So that was nice. Zach tried to motivated me and somehow I kept riding and got it done. What a struggle though! This was the only crappy workout of the week though, so I guess that's not too bad.

Saturday: Run
6.0 miles/52:29/8:45 average pace
Brick run immediately after the long ride. Piece of cake. Best part of the day.

Sunday: Run
17.0 miles/2:30:28/8:51 average pace
Banks Vernonia trail. Drove out with Alisa and Justin - we all ran separate but it was very motivating to know they were out there and waiting for me at the end. I felt good and not sore or anything. I kept about 9:00-9:10 pace for the first 15 miles and then busted out a couple fast miles at the end to bring my average down. My last mile was 7:33! Nice way to end the week.

totals for the week:

swim: 3:35 (8800 yards)
bike: 7:40 (78.1 miles + 1:30 on trainer)
run: 6:45 (45.2 miles)

total training time: 18:00

4 weeks to IMAZ



Pictures!

Long ride from Gresham to Sandy and beyond:

Pretty fall colors on a challenging ride:

Early on, still smiling.

Beautiful vista. Mt. Hood is back there but blocked by clouds:

At least Zach was enjoying himself:

One final break before the home stretch. Can't even manage a real smile!


Getting right to the run:

Sunday long run at Banks Vernonia Trail:

Alisa snapped a couple pictures as we headed out:

Hard to see, but I'm the blurry orange dot in the distance:

Gorgeous fall colors about mile 4:

Farmland shot about mile 9:

Thanks for reading! :) Have a great week everyone.

Recovery Week

It probably seems kind of strange to have a recovery week so close to the taper and race, but boy did I need it. I have had several recovery weeks in my schedule during the past few months but have ignored almost all of them. I've had a few lower volume weeks due to races, travel, etc, but that's it. But with a stretch of huge training weeks behind me and my two biggest weeks ahead, the timing was right. I was ready for the break and really took advantage of it. Probably too much so! Even with easier/shorter workouts scheduled, I still completely skipped one day of training (thursday) and cut another day way back (tuesday). I did a little extra here and there though which sort of made up for it, but ended up with two hours less than planned. There was nothing easy about my weekend though- a 17 mile run and a 76 mile bike ride. It ended up being a pretty decent week. I got the mental break I needed and lots of bonus couch/movie time, but I still got in the important workouts. I admit my enthusiasm is fading but I'm so close I know I can push through. I'm looking forward to the taper though, that is for sure. Then the race. Then cookie time (which is how I'm referring to life after the Ironman, because I'm going to do nothing but eat cookies for the next calendar year).

Here is the recap:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Run
4.0 miles/37:36/9:24 average pace
Quick easy run. Half of what I was supposed to do. Then I skipped swimming!

Wednesday: Bike
1:00 spin
With Alisa! :) Pretty good workout.

Wednesday: Run
4.5 miles/44:51/9:58 average pace
Nice run with Deana after spin class.

Wednesday: Swim
2200 yards/1:00
Masters. The only time I made it to class this week. Yikes!

Thursday: Rest
Yup

Friday: Run
8.5 miles/1:14:58/8:49 average pace
Added a bit to the scheduled run. Felt fantastic!

Friday: Swim
1250 yards/30:00
Make-up swim at the gym.

Saturday: Run
17.0 miles/2:30:36/8:52 average pace
Springwater trail in East Portland/Greshem.

I was watching the weather forecast pretty carefully this week and it looked pretty certain that Saturday was going to be rainy. I decided I would rather run for a couple of hours in the rain than ride all day in it, so I swapped my Saturday/Sunday training. When I woke up it was pretty decent out and I was thinking I should have just done my ride. I started running about 10:00 am and it was cloudy but dry and about 69 degrees. Within 2 miles it was raining and the temperature dropped a few degrees. By three miles into the run it was a torrential downpour and there was lightning. Hehe. I was glad I wasn't riding! I determined the lightning was not very close so I just kept running and got my 17 miles in. The rain let up a little but never stopped and I ended up with some decent chafing as a result. Youch. I was happy with the run though- it was nice being able to do it on fresh-ish legs rather than after a 5+ hour ride and I was pleased with my pace.

Sunday: Bike
76.1 miles/5:07:42/14.8 MPH
Hagg Lake/Patten Valley Road/Springhill Road

We drove out to Hagg Lake and Zach rode his mountain bike with me. We had a rough plan that would take him about 40 miles and then I was going to finish the ride on my own. Rather than just riding around the lake we headed out and found a couple gorgeous roads to ride. One of them was part of the Century ride last weekend. We rode along a little valley with farmland in the middle and flanked on the sides by small hills covered in trees in all their autumn color glory. Beautiful! It was pretty flat with some rolling hills and very little traffic, perfect for riding. It was cloudy with a little sprinkle but toward the end the sun came out. Much better than the day before, so I'm glad I switched the schedule around.

About halfway through the ride I was feeling really negative and blah. I was enjoying the ride but was pissed that I had to ride another 40 miles still. I was ready to cut the ride short. (This is very demonstrative of how my enthusiasm for ridiculously long training sessions is waning.) Zach was great, he said he would ride with me longer so we went back out and rode the pretty rolling valley route again. We finally headed back up to Hagg lake and Zach finished with 67 miles on his mountain bike. Wow! Considering how heavy that bike is and with the knobby tires, he sure made it look easy. I rode one lap around hilly Hagg Lake and met him down the road at the country store where he had sandwiches and chips and soda waiting. Awesome. I was really glad he rode with me and helped motivate me to do the planned 5 hour ride. It ended up being a great ride thanks to him. :)

Sunday: Swim
600 yards/15:00
We went over to the gym to sit in the steam room and hot tub and I jumped in the pool for a few laps. It was unplanned so I didn't have my nose clip or goggles. I did some kicking and then Zach found a pair of goggles in his gym bag. I found out I can easily do breast stroke without the nose clip which is good to know. I did a few laps of freestyle to and it was fine. I really do love me some nose clip though and won't be giving it up anytime soon.



totals for the week:
swim: 1:45 (4,050 yards)
bike: 6:10 (76 miles + spin)
run: 5:10 (34 miles)

total recovery week volume: 13:05

5 weeks until IMAZ

A couple pictures from the ride today. They don't really show the colors:

Thanks for reading. Have a great week! :)